


Memory & Maybe

by Jael



Series: Rebuilding Bridges [2]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Leonard Snart Lives, Prequel, Team Dynamic, Time Jump, emotional whiplash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-08-06 03:14:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16380341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jael/pseuds/Jael
Summary: Leonard continues to get acclimated to the Waverider and the team, three years after the Oculus. It's not easy. A direct sequel to "A Million Miles Away" and another prequel to "Me vs. You."





	Memory & Maybe

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LarielRomeniel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LarielRomeniel/gifts).



> I decided I wanted to post this before Legends airs. It's not like I don't know it's an utter AU already, but I rather like this Charlie (whom I've sort of used before) and I'm holding on to her as long as I can. (Hey, they're dealing with magical creatures this season, right? It could happen!) Takes place right after "A Million Miles Away." 
> 
> For LarielRomeniel, who wanted to see how Leonard would meet the newbies. And thank you for the beta!

Someone else—one of the women—is in his old room now. She—Zari—offers to move, but Leonard declines. The Waverider crew rooms are pretty much interchangeable. There’s no point in ousting her when he can just move into a spare.

He tries not to think about the times he and Sara had played cards on that bed. That’s stupid. Sentimental. It’s just a room.

_We have to hide._

_Don’t try to distract me._

The Brit in the trench coat mentions that he “wouldn’t say no to a roommate, mate”—wink, wink—but Leonard simply blinks at him, feeling far too at sea right now to flirt back or even respond to it. The man gives him a considering look, then nods thoughtfully and not without sympathy.

“Let’s have a pint later in the galley,” he says quietly. “Get acquainted.” He gives Leonard a smile that manages to be wry and understanding at the same time. “And for once, I mean that perfectly innocently.”

So now Leonard’s standing in an empty room, staring at the walls while Mick and Raymond retrieve his packed-up belongings. He’d asked about his gun, but Mick had sighed and Raymond had gone white and refused to speak, so he’s letting that go right now. He knows enough of the specs these days that he’s pretty sure he can just work with Gideon to recreate it. Maybe even make it better.

The rooms are different: the bed looks more comfortable (not that it would take much) and there’s more storage space. Raymond had said that Jax had been working to revamp them, and there’s another little pang. Leonard hopes the kid is OK and happy, wherever he is.

Three years.

Gideon had given him a clean bill of health. He was precisely as he had been when the Oculus exploded: same physical age, constructed left forearm and hand and all. Her supposition was that his position at the heart of the explosion had thrown him into the timestream so immediately that none of the more destructive energies had touched him, literally suspending him in time. No one, yet, had any idea why the temporal fluctuations surrounding him had only recently grown so rough that the Time Bureau had noticed them, but Leonard’s sure someone will have theories eventually.

He doesn’t really care. He has enough to deal with.

He hasn’t seen Sara since she’d headed off with the Time Bureau director, and maybe that’s just as well. He’s having enough trouble finding his feet and getting accustomed to things here…now…without dealing right then with the reality that they almost certainly won’t be able to go back to their old friendship, let alone anything more. He doesn’t go where he’s not wanted, not in this respect anyway, and…

There’s a noise behind him, and he turns to see the two new women on the team standing in the doorway, watching him. They don’t look as wary and upset as the other new guy had been, but they do look tentative. More than that, though, they look curious. Well, he can deal with that.

“Hey,” the one named Zari says, giving him a little wave. “How are you doing? Sorry again that I took your room.”

Leonard shrugs. “Well,” he drawls, stuffing his hands in his pockets, “it wasn’t like I was using it.”

“Still.” When he doesn’t complain about their proximity to his (new) space, Zari takes a step forward, edging into the room, the other woman following suit. “We, ah, asked Gideon to tell us who you are. More about who you are,” she adds. “She told us what the Oculus was and how you blew it up.” Her quick smile is definitely pleased. “Bad _ass_.”

She continues before he can respond to that, or really digest the thought that the remaining original team members mention him so rarely that these newcomers don’t even know who he is. “I really hate the idea of someone being able to pull my strings like that. And I don’t really like people who set themselves up as some sort of…moral authority.” A quirk smirk. “Ask Sara.”

Leonard lifts his eyebrows, a little surprised, but pleasantly.  “Yeah,” he manages. “Same here.” He glances at the other woman, who’s staring at him intently with what almost seems to be puzzlement in her gaze--like she’s not quite sure what to make of him. He lifts an eyebrow at her, making the request for introduction obvious, he thinks, and Zari elbows her, getting a glare in return before she looks back at him.

“I’m Charlie,” she says, and he’s never heard an introduction sound quite so defensive and angry before. But he understands anger, and he understands a healthy disrespect for authority, and he thinks maybe he could work with these two. Maybe they’ll get along just fine.

“Pleased to meet you, Charlie,” he tells her cordially, ignoring the anger. “And what…”

“Hey!” The man from before, the one who’d cautioned the others against him, stops in the doorway. He’s carrying a crate, and it appears he’s actually bringing some of Leonard’s packed-up belongings, but the look on his face is anything but friendly. “Zari…Charlie…I told you about…”

Zari rolls her eyes, shaking her head. “ _Not_ the _boss_ of _me_ …” she sing-songs, while Charlie gives the newcomer a look that’s so filled with irritation that Leonard wonders about the history there. Still, they both apparently decide it’s better to let Leonard get to the business of looking into his things, stepping back toward the door. Charlie just leaves, but Zari winks at Leonard first—a friendly wink, and a commiserating one, nothing more. But nothing less, either.

“Nice to meet you,” she says, ignoring the other man. “Anyone Mick and Ray trust so much is OK in my book.”

And then she leaves, as Leonard wonders that she didn’t mention Sara and the newcomer stands there, still staring at him.

He’s not in the mood to deal with criticism from someone he’s never even met. Leonard lifts his chin and despite his current state of uncertainty, gives the man his best Captain Cold glare.

It doesn’t help. In fact, the man’s frown grows a little more pronounced, his discomfort shifting into what might almost be anger.

“We fought you,” he blurts out then. “You were part of the Legion of Doom.”

Leonard blinks at him. “The Legion of _what_?” he manages.

The other man’s continued without pause. “The Legion,” he repeats. “The Reverse Flash, Malcolm Merlyn, Damien Darhk. And you.”

Leonard knows two of those names. The Reverse Flash was Ramon’s name for the first speedster enemy Allen had acquired. And Merlyn…

That was the man who’d killed Sara. Or as close as didn’t matter. She’d told him once, over cards. She’d acted like it didn’t matter, not anymore. But it _did_.

“I did _not_ ,” Leonard hisses back, his discomfort with the very idea coming out as anger, and a corner of him is almost glad to see the other man step back in the face of it. “I never worked with…with _them_.”

But the fellow is made of sterner stuff than expected, and there’s steel in those eyes as his chin goes up too.

“You killed Amaya. You froze her and shattered her,” he continues inexorably. “And you helped them rewrite reality. Thawne and Merlyn and Darhk…the man who killed Sara’s _sister_ , for crying out loud!”

What?

“Sara’s sister is _dead_?” he says, staring. “When? What happened?”

The man is in no mood to give his perceived enemy any information, however. “You killed Mick too,” he says, staring back at Leonard. “Icicle through the heart. And…”

“The _hell_?” Mick himself had appeared, carrying a crate, Raymond following him with another. “Damn it, Pretty…”

“What?” both the new guy and Leonard ask in irritation, looking at Mick, then looking back at each other with even more ire.

Raymond coughs back a laugh, but Mick’s in no mood for humor. “That wasn’t _him_ ,” he says, staring at the man. “It _wasn’t_. Any way you spin it.”

“Nate,” Raymond butts in, putting his crate down and finally giving Leonard’s antagonist a name, “I have to restack some stuff in the cargo bay where we found these. Come give me a hand.”

Nate gives Raymond a _look_ , but he still follows him, giving Leonard a glance that’s probably supposed to be threatening before he leaves. It’d almost be funny if Leonard wasn’t so disturbed by his words. He gives Mick his own _look_ , and the bigger man sighs, putting his crate down.

“They said it was old you, from before the Flash, from long before the Legends,” he mutters, looking away. “They picked you up then, the Legion, told you that you were gonna die, and you worked with them.”

Leonard didn’t know what to say. “It was me?” he asks finally. “Really?” He’d killed _Mick_? Worked with the bastard who’d had Sara killed, the bastard who’d apparently killed her sister? No wonder she didn’t want to talk to him.

Mick shrugs, glancing away. “I dunno.” He glances back. “You don’t remember anything?”

Leonard been racking his memory. “No,” he says shortly. “Not at all.”

“Eh.” Mick looks down. “I sorta used this memory-wiping thing on you…him.”

Leonard digests that. “You can do that now?

“Yeah.” His friend glances up, a spark in his eyes. “But I still think that wasn’t really you,” he says firmly. “Maybe like a Dark Snart, someone from another Earth, like Leo.”

There’s that name again, a name that brings up unpleasant memories from his childhood, and his jaunt back to 1975. “Leo?”

Mick starts to speak, then stops. “I need beer for this,” he tells Leonard firmly. “And so do you. Trust me.”

Leonard considers, then acknowledges that with a tip of his head. “OK by me. Galley in the same place?”

“Yep.” But then Mick pauses again, and there’s something almost…soft…in his eyes, something that speaks of the feelings they’ve both staunchly denied having. Leonard will admit that as he gradually sorts through the variety of issues related to his three-year time skip, he _is_ glad that Mick seems so…settled? More at peace. More at…home?

Well. At least there’s that.

“Glad you’re back, Snart,” though, is all Mick says.

“Me too, Mick. Me too.”

* * *

Raymond and the Brit in the trench coat—he introduces himself as John Constantine, and while that seems to be vaguely familiar, Leonard isn’t sure precisely how—join them in the galley, and there are beers acquired all ‘round. He takes a drink of his, reflecting that he hasn’t had anything to eat or drink, apparently, in three years, and looks at the others.

“So,” he says, “who’s Leo?”

Constantine makes a noise that’s thoroughly admiring—Leonard lifts an eyebrow, but otherwise ignores him—and takes a drink, winking at Leonard again. But he glances at Mick rather than replying himself, and the bigger man nods, as if steeling himself to speak.

“Well,” he says, after taking a long pull from his beer. “Nazis attacked Allen’s wedding. Nazis from another Earth. The you from that Earth goes by ‘Leo.’ ”

So many words today aren’t making sense. “Nazis?” Leonard asks blankly. “From another Earth?”

“Yeah.”

“Scarlet got married?” And he wasn’t there to crash it? Damn.

That gets a snort from Mick and a laugh from Raymond. “Eventually,” the scientist says, taking a sip of his own drink. “Leo’s cool. He’s…different. From, uh, you. He likes hugs and he likes talking it out. Playing counselor.”

Leonard stares at him, vaguely appalled. “No.”

“Yes,” Raymond responds happily.

Constantine sighs gustily. “A damn-fine-lookin’ man,” he says thoughtfully, putting his feet on the stool next to him. “But sadly, quite thoroughly taken.”

Leonard gives Mick a quizzical look. His friend shrugs. “Fella by the name Ray Terrill,” he says. “Ever heard of him?”

“Nope.” Leonard stared into his beer, wondering. This Leo seemed…rather more likeable than he’d ever considered himself. Or cared. But...

“Anyway, we beat them,” Raymond continued. “Leo and his Ray went back to Earth-X. They’re getting married! But he visits sometimes.” He gives Leonard a grin, then looks at Mick. “Oh! Tell him about the puppet.”

But Leonard holds up a hand. “No,” he commands. “Don’t tell me about the puppet. I don’t wanna know about the puppet.” And he doesn’t want to know more about the oh-so-charming Leo, who very definitely isn’t him. “Tell me about the other newbies.” He pauses. “And who’s Amaya?”

Constantine and Raymond exchange glances, but Mick’s eyes go distant. “She was parta the team,” he says quietly. “Went back home, though. To 1942.”

There’s more there. Leonard knows it with every fiber of his being. But this isn’t the time to pursue it. “Ah,” he manages, deciding to leave the question of this missing woman behind him. Especially since his doppelganger apparently killed her. Sort of. “The newbies?”

“Well,” Raymond cuts in, leaning forward, “it’s weird. Charlie looks just like Amaya! But she isn’t.” He takes a healthy gulp of his beer as Leonard stares at him and Constantine guffaws at his expression. “Well, that’s a long story. And it’s even weirder for Nate. But…”

But Leonard’s staring at Mick now, and the other man is shaking his head, something complicated in his own eyes. Again.

“Charlie only looks like Amaya,” he tells Leonard. “She found ‘Maya’s image in Gideon’s database and decided she liked it. She can change shape.”

Words continue to not make sense. Leonard tilts his head, waiting. “So,” he says after the silence stretches. “Who is she?”

Mick pauses…then grins. “She’s a dragon,” he says raptly.

 _No_ sense. At all. “A dragon.”

“Yeah.”

And Leonard knows that look. Oh, crap.

Leonard stares at him, then looks at Constantine and Raymond. The latter gives him a nod and a particularly goofy grin. Constantine just shakes his head.

“We’re dealing with magical creatures, mate,” he says, not without sympathy. “It gets weird. Make this lot explain to you how it started, ‘cause I’m not up to it right now.”

Leonard just plain doesn’t want to right now. He takes a bigger swig of his beer than usual. “And Zari?”

“She’s a hacker,” Raymond tells him. ”From the future. And she has this wind totem.” He snaps his fingers. “Oh! The totems. We need to explain the totems. And Beebo.”

“What the fuck is a Beebo?” Leonard does have a vague memory of some children’s toy, but he decides, abruptly, that he doesn’t want to ask. He just can’t deal with more weirdness. “Never mind. Seriously. Tell me later. Maybe much later.”

Raymond looks disappointed, but nods. “Well. Anyway. Good to have you back, Snart.” He gives Leonard a tentative grin. “Really. Hasn’t been the same.”

Leonard allows his shoulder to be patted, giving Mick a long-suffering look, and watches as the scientist wanders off. Constantine lets out a snicker, finishing his own beer, then rises.

“Well, I’m sure this isn’t going to easy for you, mate,” he tells Leonard seriously. “But welcome back to the land of the living. You need any fillin’ in on the magic stuff, let me know.” He smirks. “Over another drink, if you want.”

Leonard eyes him. “Got it.”

Constantine chuckles, tilts his head toward them, and saunters off, into the corridors of the Waverider. Leonard, bemused, watches him go. And decides not to ask. For now.

Instead, he just looks at Mick, who looks back.

“You gonna stay?” his friend asks abruptly. “On the ship? I mean. I know a lot’s changed.”

Leonard’s still feeling very at sea, but he has a very definite feeling that if he makes the wrong decision here, he’ll lose even more than he’s already lost.

“I can’t really see goin’ back to Central and picking up where I left off,” he says after a moment. “But I do want to go tell Lisa. Soon as I can.” He eyes Mick. “Still, I’m staying. For now.”

Mick nods, and Leonard doesn’t think he’s imaging the faintest look of relief on the other man’s face.

But then Mick presses it.

“Blondie…” he starts.

Leonard holds up a hand. “No, Mick.”

His friend gives him a rather combative look (which is very Mick) laced with concern (which isn’t). “You should…”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” The words come out harsher than he’d meant.

Mick regards them, then shrugs. “Fine,” he mutters, getting to his feet. “On you, then.”

Leonard watches him go, sitting there in the galley alone, nursing his beer.

He can do this, he decides, a little grimly. He’ll make this work. It won’t be the same, but he can go back to being Mick’s partner, Raymond’s…frenemy? Sure, that works. And he’s pretty sure he can work just fine with Zari, Charlie and Constantine. Nate will just have to deal.

But Sara…

His role here has always been snarky opposition to the captain. It’s a good role. He’ll miss Rip in that regard. Sara…Sara is undoubtedly a much better captain, but she’ll need that too. Someone to challenge her and provide counterpoint and back her up, sometimes.

And he can do that. And maybe…

He stifles the _maybe_.

The _maybe_ is never going to happen.

 


End file.
